An experience in a spoilt region despite of being UNESCO’s Human Heritage.After years of different managements and planning with people, the role of urban planner’s profession is changing.Xochimilco is looking for a better environment.English and Spanish)

Abstract

Changing Roles on Planning and City Management Professions in Xochimilco D.F.

This paper describes new challenges to improve city management and planning profession in Xochimilco (400 000 inhabitants and UNESCO´s Human Heritage), once the most conflictive political Delegation of all the sixteen that conform Mexico’s Federal District. Since 1997 the Head of the Government of the DF was elected by the first time in a democratic way.

Within this democratizing process, after the Ley de Participación Ciudadana (Citizen Participation’s Law) was modified the elections of people’s representatives were done for the first time in the 14 original pueblos of Xochimilco. Due to the support of these representatives —normally natives who have a culture of their own— there’s a constructive dialogue going on, that allows the support for planning and administration processes by operational practices such as participative budgeting and a different way of urban planning by planners with sensible urban skills, and policies for the needs and culture of the different groups of people.

No matter whether an urban work is well or bad done, it surely represents a culture and is linked to socio-economic and political situations, so in many cases the role of planners in developing countries as Mexico —and mainly in cities with a high population growing rate— continually faces new problems that must be adequate to the challenges they imply, such as a frequent dialogue between all these authors and actors of new urban designs and planning practices. For so, this practices should be coordinated and approved between the main participants of the urban spaces, public officials and the increasing added value of interdisciplinary work made by consultancy firms.

We can assure that some experiences carried since 1997 in this case study reflect the interests of a larger group, and therefore they are both designed by more authors and widely accepted by a growing group of citizens.

Keywords

Participation, planning roles

Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2005: Making Spaces for the Creative Economy